“But when He gave them of His bounty, they withheld it and turned away in aversion. So He caused hypocrisy to follow them in their hearts until the Day they meet Him, because they broke their promise to Allah and because they used to lie. Did they not know that Allah knows what they conceal and what they confer privately, and that Allah is the Knower of the unseen? Those who criticize the charitable believers and those who can find nothing to give but their utmost effort, ridiculing them—Allah will mock them, and theirs is a painful punishment.” (76–79)
“But when He gave them of His bounty, they withheld it and turned away in aversion.” “So He caused hypocrisy to follow them”—that is, He made hypocrisy the eventual outcome of their affair. One says, “He caused regret to follow someone,” when he makes regret the ultimate outcome of that person’s affair. It was also said: He punished them with hypocrisy in their hearts. The expressions “He punished him” and “He caused it to follow him” carry the same meaning. “Until the Day they meet Him”: that is, He deprived them of repentance until the Day of Resurrection, “because they broke their promise to Allah and because they used to lie.”
Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn al-Fadl al-Khiraqi informed us: Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Abd Allah al-Taysafuni related to us; Abd Allah ibn Umar al-Jawhari related to us; Ahmad ibn Ali al-Kushmihini related to us; Ali ibn Hajar related to us; Isma‘il ibn Ja‘far related to us; Abu Suhayl Nafi‘ ibn Malik informed us, from his father, from Abu Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: “There are three signs of a hypocrite: when he speaks, he lies; when he makes a promise, he breaks it; and when he is entrusted, he betrays the trust.” (1)
His saying, Most High: “Did they not know that Allah knows what they conceal and what they confer privately?” means what they hide within their hearts and what they speak of secretly among themselves; “and that Allah is the Knower of the unseen.”
His saying, Most High: “Those who criticize the charitable believers...” the verse.
The scholars of exegesis said: The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, urged the people to give charity. Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf came with four thousand dirhams and said, “O Messenger of Allah, I possess eight thousand; I have brought you four thousand, so place them in the way of Allah, and I have retained four thousand for my family.” The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “May Allah bless you in what you have given and in what you have retained.” So Allah blessed in